The Aachen Altar ( de: ''Aachener Altar'') or Passion Altar (''Passionsaltar'') is a late

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

passion triptych in the Aachen Cathedral Treasury, made by the so-called Master of the Aachen Altar around 1515/20 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

Construction and description

The open, three winged polyptych altar image shows scenes from the Passion of Christ to his Ascension in continuous sequence from left to right. At the assumed time of composition, this type of depiction was already well-established. On the left wing of the altar, Jesus is crowned with the Crown of thorns and confronts

Pontius Pilate Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of J ...

. The central panel depicts the

Stations of the Cross The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Way of Sorrows or the Via Crucis, refers to a series of images depicting Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and accompanying prayers. The station ...

, with the

Crucifixion of Jesus The crucifixion and death of Jesus occurred in 1st-century Judea, most likely in AD 30 or AD 33. It is described in the four canonical gospels, referred to in the New Testament epistles, attested to by other ancient sources, and consid ...

as the central scene. This panel also shows the Harrowing of Hell and the suicide of Judas. On the right wing is the Lamentation of Christ, his

burial Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

, the meeting with Mary Magdalen, and the Ascension. The painter stresses the passion scenes as a bloody ordeal through the use of red paint throughout the whole image. With the exception of Jesus, Mary and John, everyone is depicted in contemporary clothing in a local landscape. The biblical scenes are presented to the viewer, providing the opportunity for introspection. Furthermore, in the division of the centrepiece into a "good side" on the left of the crucifixion and a "bad side" on the right and in the direction of glances and gestures towards the viewer, the panel demands that the viewer make a personal choice between salvation and damnation. On the left wing, the soldier bringing Jesus to Pilate has a

scimitar A scimitar ( or ) is a single-edged sword with a convex curved blade associated with Middle Eastern, South Asian, or North African cultures. A European term, ''scimitar'' does not refer to one specific sword type, but an assortment of different ...

and suit of armour of Turkish style, reflecting the great fear of a Turkish attack on Christian Europe at the time of the work's composition. In addition, a child with signs of

down syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual dis ...

being deloused by a monkey in the

possession Possession may refer to: Law * Dependent territory, an area of land over which another country exercises sovereignty, but which does not have the full right of participation in that country's governance * Drug possession, a crime * Ownership * ...

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...

, alludes to the role of Satan (who appears in person on the upper right of the central panel) in Christ's death. The thin youth with a dark beret is often considered a self-portrait of the painter. In the background of the left panel a church with unfinished towers is visible, which was long thought to be

Cologne Cathedral Cologne Cathedral (german: Kölner Dom, officially ', English: Cathedral Church of Saint Peter) is a Catholic cathedral in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and of the administration of the Archdiocese of ...

(probably incorrectly). The Schildergasse and the Dreikönigenpförtchen have been similarly identified in the alley in front of the cathedral, while the church facade poking out from behind a column has been identified as the

Carmelite , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Car ...

cloister of Cologne. On the outsides of the wings there are six saints under an arcade in front of a

brocade Brocade is a class of richly decorative shuttle-woven fabrics, often made in colored silks and sometimes with gold and silver threads. The name, related to the same root as the word "broccoli", comes from Italian ''broccato'' meaning "embos ...

pattern, who are face the viewer when the triptych is closed. The outer two saints are

Carmelite , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Car ...

s and are especially emphasised by church steeples. The saints on the left wing are the Carmelite Saint Anthony of Hungary, Saint Barbara, Saint Sebastian; the saints on the left wing are

Saint Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. "Laurel wreath, laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the Persecution of Christians, perse ...

, Saint Catherine and the Carmelite Saint Angel.

History

The exact date of the triptych's donation is not known. The supposed donor, Theodericus de Gouda was the Provincial superior of the Carmelite Cloister of Cologne and died in 1539. The triptych was on the Volksaltar of the Cologne Carmelite Church until 1642. It came into the Cologne collection of the Jacob Lyversberg before 1834 after which it went to the Cologne collection of Haan, from whom Aachen Cathedral acquired it in 1872. At that point it was installed in the

Choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

Painter

The unknown master responsible for the work, tentatively identified with the engraver P.W., seems to have been active in Cologne between 1480 and 1580. This explains the close relationship of his work to the works of his contemporaries in Cologne, the Master of St Severin and the earlier Master of the legend of St. Ursula, as a demonstration of the popularity of altar images in Cologne around 1495/1500. Aspects of technique support its origin in the Middle Rhine, but Early Netherlandish influence is visible, as well as that of Antwerp Mannerism. The depiction of the sick child, the blind Roman legionnaires and the

syphilitic Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, and ...

judges betrays a degree of detail which seems almost medical.Egon Schmitz-Cliever, "Die Darstellung der Syphilis auf dem sogenannten Aachener Altarbild der Kölner Malerschule (um 1510)", in ''Archiv für Dermatologie und Syphilis.'' 192, 1950, pp. 164–174.

Bibliography

* Herta Lepie, Georg Minkenberg. ''Die Schatzkammer des Aachener Domes.'' Brimberg, Aachen 1995, , pp. 46f. * Marita to Berens-Jurk. ''Der Meister des Aachener Altars.'' Mainz 2002.

References

External links

* {{DDB, Objekt, 5C7ZLZLCXSJOTCRKVOQNI64VLTD62L3W, Aachen Altar
Aachen Altar
in the Bildindex der Kunst und Architektur
Aachen Altar
in the Europeana Aachen Cathedral Treasury Paintings depicting the Crucifixion of Jesus Triptychs German paintings Gothic paintings 16th-century paintings Paintings depicting Mary Magdalene